I specialise in creating unique 28 mm scale miniature armies, for Warhammer 40,000, Dust, Urban War and other science fiction games

Saturday, 18 January 2014

Judge Dredd Miniatures Game: Cursed Earth Desperadoes

I've been a fan of Judge Dredd since I was a kid, and this Christmas my wife kindly bought me hardcover rulebook and a pile of miniatures! In a future post, I'm going to do a run-down of the rulebook and a proper review - suffice to say, for now, that it is a great book and looks a lot of fun. But today is all about the miniatures....

Firstly, Mongoose have had some flak from the community because of their handling of previous much-loved miniatures games. This is a shame, and I don't really know the wrongs and rights - I guess that licences are not easy to manage, and I'm sure that Mongoose is not solely at fault for how Starship Troopers worked out. That out of the way, I actually think that they have done a great job on Judge Dredd: they have a lovely rulebook, a great range of miniatures and a regular flow of new releases.

Here is my gang all together:

The models are all metal, and feel really "old school". I never thought I'd say it, but I miss metal miniatures! Resin and "restic" have become the more favoured medium for detailed miniatures, but these materials have their own issues: I'm fed up of warped weapons, bad casts, models being easily knocked over during a game...

The downside of the range is that these are not highly-advanced, new-age super-detailed sculpts. They feel very '80s or '90s, but to me that isn't a bad thing at all! I actually found the level of surface detail to be ideal - they painted up very quickly, and very a joy to work with.

Here is the leader of the gang - a "hero" in Mongoose's rules - with a serious pirate-y vibe. I like this figure a lot.

The Cursed Earth Desperadoes boxed set contains 8 models - easily enough to get started with the miniatures game. This is definitely one of the advantages of the game: you can play on a small surface with a handful of figures each. For me (as I regularly paint whole armies), this was really refreshing.

Here's a mutant with toughened skin mutation, armed with a shotgun.

Another mutie, with three arms - carrying a pistol and a knife.

This mutant is just plain ugly, carrying a shotgun (or maybe a stump gun?).

This is an extra member of my gang - a figure from EM4 Miniatures, that I've had lying in my bits box forever... I started painting her up years ago, but never had a use for the figure and so couldn't muster the motivation to finish her. In scale and style, EM4 models fit quite well with Mongoose's range, so I finished the model and added her to the gang!

This weird mutie is my favourite of the group - with blue skin, strange limbs and goofy teeth!

So, that's my first Judge Dredd gang finished. I also received a judge on Lawmaster and a Judge Dredd sculpt, so these are next on the painting desk.